This is a gift-fic for
LadyTigerFuyuko, who requested Dante/Lady. She wrote the 100th
review of Rapture (counting the ones that were deleted when I
reposted it as a single fic) and I like to award kiribans to
reviewers, because I really do appreciate getting reviews.

-

"What is this?"
Lady asked, handing Dante a piece of jewelry.

He took it and
grimaced. "It's got a spell on it to cause a miscarriage.
Old-fashioned curse. Must have done it for practice."

"Can you take the
spell off?" The bracelet was real gold. She could get something for
it.

"Sorry, Lady. I can
spot them but I can't do anything about them. I'm not a sorcerer.
You'd have to melt it down."

"Okay." She tossed
it into the laundry hamper that held the things they were going to
have to do something special with. "This?" The next thing she
took out of the cabinet was a black mirror.

How many people had her
father killed? They had barely started sorting through his things and
Dante had already taken the wastebasket they filled with the things
that needed to be destroyed out to the backyard where they were going
to have a bonfire twice.

The heads and other
body parts were going to be taken to the morgue so hopefully the
families would at least know what had happened.

So many of the victims
were girls her age.

"Black mirrors are
used for seeing distant things, sometimes as oracles," Dante
explained as she tossed the mirror in the wastebasket, wanting it out
of her hands.

"How do you know all
this?"

"My mother. She made
us learn about the stuff we might run into."

Kalina Ann had taught
her daughter how to cook and worked out with her. "What's this?"

He whistled. "Amulet
of Karense. Keep that, it protects against burning."

She slipped into the
pocket he'd made never run out of room.

She'd never thought
she'd see her old house again. She'd never thought she'd work
with a demon, yet here they were. Someone had to clean up her
father's mess: they certainly couldn't leave this stuff here for
the new owner to find. She was going to sell everything she could, to
finance her career.

The next time the
destroy bin got full she called it quits and went over to carry the
bin. Dante was there before her. "I'll carry it." He made it
look so easy.

She led the way out to
the backyard where the wood was stacked. Dante had dumped all the
previous loads on the wood. This load joined it. "Should I light
her up, Lady?"

She nodded.

He took out a sword and
touched it to the pile, which burst into flames. Flames that turned
odd colors and made odd sounds as her father's works were burned.

Dante pulled up two
chairs and she sat down, watching the fire. Dante sat right next to
her. A little too close, but she didn't want to tell him to move
away. She didn't want to hurt his feelings.

He was being so
helpful, teaching her and giving her things. The part of her that
couldn't get over her hatred of demons told her he was only doing
it to get in her pants, that she should send him away before he raped
her.

She knew that was
unfair and it made her feel guilty that she was thinking things like
that about him when he had passed up a job (when her father had
destroyed his home and he desperately needed the money), to come and
help her clean out her old house.

"I brought
marshmallows," he offered.

"Eat something cooked
on that?" She stared at him as he shook the bag at her,
smiling.

"Why not? It won't
hurt you. Come on, Lady. Live a little."

Marshmallows were so
childish. But he had found long sticks and he roasted one for
her. It was good, she thought as she licked her fingers. "Are you
going to make s'mores?"

"I don't like
graham crackers," he told her. "If you want, I could pick some up
next time I go to the grocery store."

He'd been the one to
go and buy all the wood and food. She wasn't going to eat anything
from that house. "No, that's okay."

He seemed a little
disappointed. But he cheered up as she ate one of the next batch of
marshmallows.

They'd had cookouts
in the backyard, before.

She reached over and
took one of the sticks from Dante. He grinned. "That's better,
Lady."

"Why do you care
about things like this?" When there were demons out there.

He shrugged. "If
you're miserable, then they've won. You don't want to lose,
do you Lady?"

Demons fed on pain,
"You're right." She gripped the stick tighter.

Dante ate three
marshmallows to each one of hers. "What?" he asked when he caught
her looking at him.

"Is there… some
reason why you're eating so much?" Men ate more, but…

"Yeah, my
metabolism's crazy." He swallowed another marshmallow. "'S
why I drink tomato juice instead of water, when I can."

"Oh." There was
silence for a while, bar the flames and Dante eating.

It was strange. He
seemed so human. He was kind, unselfish even, giving her blue orbs
that he needed as well. But there were so many things about him,
little things, that reminded her he was not human.

No, that was unfair, he
was half human. He'd had a mother once.

Her eyes kept glancing
at him.

Part of that was her
hormones.

It was probably yet
another demon thing. There were succubi and things that fed on lust,
right? It wasn't deliberate, he wasn't trying to control her. He
wouldn't do something like that.

But even though he had
the face of an angel she shouldn't be this attracted to him. It had
to be some power.

The thing was, when she
hated him she could ignore it, let it fuel her hate even. Now that he
was right here next to her, and he was so kind after she'd broken
his heart, it was very hard not to reach out.

Under that grin there
was some sadness in his eyes, there because of her. He didn't think
he had a chance, and being around her made him suffer, but he was
still helping her.

She hadn't thought it
was possible for a demon to be that unselfish. She hadn't thought
it was possible for a demon to love.

He'd fallen in love
with her because she was brave and strong. He respected her. It
certainly wasn't for her looks: with her mismatched eyes and scar
she was no prize. But she was beautiful in his eyes.

But she had a mission,
to eliminate every last demon, and she couldn't let anything stop
her, not even love. But then, he wouldn't try to stop her fighting,
would he? He'd laughed as they fought side-by-side. She thought he
found her most beautiful then.

She'd never even had
a real boyfriend, and now… it was probably just crushes. They'd
been in the wrong place (no one should have been there) at the same
time and it had been a very long and dark night. They'd both lost
someone.

She wanted him to hold
her and comfort her as much as she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted
to comfort him.

He seemed like a child
now, watching his marshmallows, and she smiled at him. "Dante."

"Yeah, Lady?"

What should she say
now? She wanted to tell him to go away, because even though things
would be hard without him here it was hard with him here. She'd
thought her heart had died with her mother. Now it was beating again
and she didn't know what to do.

"Dante, um… How
long are you going to stick around?"

"As long as you need
me, Lady." He said it nonchalantly. "Why? You can't be tired of
me so soon. I haven't even teased you!"

"No, I'm not tired
of you. I was thinking, there's a lot I don't know. I probably
would have sold that bracelet to a pawn shop and some woman would
have bought it and never had children. Do you want to… Instead of
me starting up my own shop, do you want to work together?"

"You mean it?"

"Yes." She looked
at her stick.

"Thanks, Lady. It
would have taken me a long time to save up again."

"Well, my father owes
it to you. It's his money." Was his money. It still didn't feel
real that he was dead, not completely. Her mother finally avenged.

"It's yours, Lady."

She shrugged. "We
could work together."

"Partners?"

"You don't like the
idea?"

"No, it's just been
a while since I had a partner." His eyes were shadowed for a
second. "Sure, Lady. Thanks."

"Thank you, Dante."
And maybe, maybe when she was around him every day she'd be able
to… either she'd get over this crush or she'd work up her
courage to apologize for turning away from that kiss.

She regretted it so
much. Had that been her only chance?

No.

"Dante, do you want
one of my marshmallows?" She took the top one off the stick and
held it out to him.

"Sure." He took it,
and their fingers stuck together for an instant.

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